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Resolution: LGBT Equality in the Workplace Includes Labor Rights

LGBT Equality in the Workplace Includes Labor Rights
A Resolution to Address the Fundamental Flaws of HRC’s Corporate Equality Index

WHEREAS, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is the largest and best-funded LGBT civil rights organization in the United States, and;

WHEREAS, given its breadth and scope, HRC has a special responsibility to stand up and speak out for all members of the LGBT community, and;

WHEREAS, too often, HRC has catered to its big-moneyed donors at the expense of those who live on the margins, and;

WHEREAS, these misguided priorities have disproportionately impacted the transgender community, people of color, and workers, and;

WHEREAS, nowhere is this more apparent than in HRC’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI), and;

WHEREAS, LGBT consumers look to the CEI when deciding how to spend their hard-earned money, and;

WHEREAS, the CEI should paint an accurate and complete picture about companies’ policies AND practices when it comes to LGBT equality, but has fallen woefully short of this standard, and;

WHEREAS, Walmart has a long track record of anti-LGBT discrimination, and;

WHEREAS, Walmart was a substantial financial backer of the key proponents of Arkansas Senate Bill 202, legislation that encouraged discrimination against the LGBT community, and;

WHEREAS, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that Walmart discriminated against Jaqueline Cote, a lesbian worker, by denying her spouse health insurance, and;

WHEREAS, Cote’s spouse is currently battling ovarian cancer and the couple has racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills, and;

WHEREAS, despite these factors and many others, Walmart received a 90 percent on HRC’s latest CEI, and;

WHEREAS, the CEI does not take into account a company’s commitment to workers’ rights, including the right to form a union and bargain collectively, and;

WHEREAS, a collective bargaining agreement is the only thing protecting LGBT workers from being fired in more than half of all states;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, Pride at Work calls on HRC to do more to support economic and social justice, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, Pride at Work calls on HRC to suspend the CEI score of Walmart and all other companies that systematically violate LGBT and workers’ rights, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, Pride at Work calls on HRC to fundamentally revamp the CEI so it serves as an accurate barometer of where companies stand on LGBT equality, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, Pride at Work calls on HRC to include representatives from organized labor on their Business Advisory Council, which is the organizational body responsible for the CEI, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, Pride at Work calls upon all labor unions, labor federations, and labor-affiliated organizations to cease funding HRC at all levels until these matters are addressed in a manner that shows HRC stands in solidarity with all working Americans for a fair, just and equal society, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, Pride at Work will actively engage and educate HRC on these and other labor-related issues at every level until the CEI paints an accurate picture of the conditions workers face.